Secular trend and age-period-cohort analysis of prostate cancer mortality in Taiwan

Purpose: We evaluated the secular mortality trend of prostate cancer in Taiwan from 1964 through 1994. Materials and Methods: Analyses were based on vital statistics. Relative risks associated with each of the age, period and cohort effects on secular mortality were estimated from a log-linear Poisson model. Results: Age adjusted mortality rates increased more than 2-fold during the last 30 years in Taiwan. Age-period-cohort analysis showed that the age effect was the strongest. Conclusions: Factors related to aging are the main reason for the increase in prostate cancer mortality in Taiwan during the last 3 decades.